Portable electronic devices including cellular telephone handsets, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld gaming devices, and laptop computers, among other devices, have become increasingly popular, particularly in mobile societies. Consumer demand for portability however is often at odds with a competing desire for large display interfaces, since small devices severely constrain the size of the display that may be incorporated into such devices.
Others have endeavored to address competing demands for small form-factors and large display areas. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,095,387 entitled “Display Expansion Method and Apparatus” discloses an expandable display having multiple folding sections in a handheld computing device, wherein the display is expandable upon unfolding the multiple display sections. An alternative embodiment includes a retractable e-paper display screen that is supported by a folding panel that may be expanded. The '387 Patent also teaches reformatting a displayed image based on the configuration of the display to maintain a constant display resolution regardless of the configuration of the display.
The various aspects, features and advantages of the disclosure will become more fully apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon careful consideration of the following Detailed Description thereof with the accompanying drawings described below. The drawings may have been simplified for clarity and are not necessarily drawn to scale.